The other evening my husband and I were having a conversation about persuasion. He happens to be a lawyer, and I, a marketer, and therefore, the art of persuasion is something we consider to be of primary importance.

Today, or rather last night, my state lost a dynamic leader – Selvi Dr. J Jayalalithaa, fondly referred to as Amma. This post is not a political tribute or even a personal eulogy to a tough stateswoman. In her passing however, and in replaying the most remarkable aspects of her public persona, I was reminded of the incredible power of the personal brand.

How often have you come across content screaming at you from your social media platform, offering up “10 places you have to see before you turn thirty” or “10 reasons why Leonardo di Caprio must win an Oscar”? The range of these new age content gimmicks is as varied as “12 uses for chalk that you never knew about” and “20 different cheeses you should try in your lifetime.” (See what we did there?)

When the internet revolutionized reading habits globally, it undoubtedly shrank space and attention spans for print magazines and newspapers. And yet, there was a small segment of people trying to wed their interests in the old media platform with the opportunities and possibilities created by new technological trends. One such successful venture is Magzter, a new age digital magazine store that has brought the two platforms together in a fantastic union of sorts.

Did you change your profile picture to include the light saber? Regardless of whether one has seen the original installments of Star Wars or not, today, the world has so ubiquitously come to know of the film – even millennials born way after the movies released – thanks to a clever digital media campaign. From Google to Facebook, Star Wars was a pretty interesting way to wed the internet with the intergalactic. But if you’re thinking theirs was the only marketing mix that included the digital media for the world of films, think again.

In early February we shared with you a list of Dos for you to get Facebook-ready. Around then, some of the revised guidelines for Brand/ Business pages on Facebook (announced in Nov2014) came into effect. These changes do affect the way users get to see ‘Brand Content’ on their Newsfeed. As marketers, we have been able to adapt to these changes and ensure brand pages we manage still get the best visibility and engagement they need. In this blog, we let you in on what’s changed.

When brands and businesses begin life on social media, they tend to do so with caution. They pick one tool, try it to get their feet wet and then wait to see what happens. It is quite natural that a brand wants to test a few channels of marketing without a brand-wide commitment from the word go. In this time and age, social media does allow for experimentation (within limits!), building upto strategy and tactics.

I am sure many of us have woken up one fine morning and felt, I am not looking right! Perhaps a dire change of wardrobe is needed, maybe a new haircut, maybe it’s the glasses that need changing or could be a great tattoo. A need for personality change or improvement applies not just to people, but to businesses too!

Happy to share a Guest blog by Sarajit Jha - on a topic that truly resonates with us. As marketers, we urge businesses to understand their customer segments better. Whether you're shaping up your value proposition or drawing buyer personas or chalking out communication / messaging strategies - the very foundation of all that is what segmenting is about. We loved this blog and wanted to share it with you here, with the permission of its author -Sarajit Jha.